UBS Names New Member to Executive Board

UBS names Damian Vogel to its executive board and becomes chief risk officer, replacing the current CRO who is stepping down to focus on academia and photography.

Damian Vogel succeeds Christian Bluhm as chief risk officer at UBS and will join the executive board effective the beginning of May, according to a statement from UBS Tuesday. The two will work closely together to ensure a smooth transition, UBS went on to say.

Vogel currently serves as chief risk officer for the global wealth management (GWM) business and joined UBS in 2010, having services in several risk-related leadership roles in GWM, personal and corporate banking, and the Swiss business.

Generally, when such announcements of executive changes are made, there tends to be a comment about «spending more time with family» or something equally banal. In the case of Bluhm, he is stepping down to focus (no pun intended) on his photography business. In addition, he is looking into opportunities in academia.

Bluhm was the Group’s CFO since 2016 and pushed the department to embrace advanced analytics, digitalization, and AI.

The re-making of the twelve-member group executive board under CEO Ralph Hamers continues to progress. Sarah Youngwood was appointed chief financial officer in May and Barbara Levi chief legal officer last November.

Appointed under Hamers’ predecessor Sergio Ermotti are investment bank chief Robert Karofsky, asset management head Suni Harford, GWM chief Iqbal Khan, compliance officer Markus Ronner and Asia Pacific head, Edmund Koh.